Rapid Impact

Peak Bodies and Associations

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Individually, organisations and practitioners in any field find it difficult, slow and often overwhelming to make sustained industry change. The problem is that there is either one lone voice for change or that individuals and organisations cannot find enough time and resources to coordinate action. Peak bodies are in a unique position to influence change in an industry, on behalf of their members.  Yet, peak bodies can be trapped by responding primarily to day-to-day issues, or, by dealing with reactive advocacy and lobbying, rather than delivering strategic change. The challenge is for them to identify a limited, focused agenda that delivers real change. By identifying and selecting the two or three change levers, then creating a tight agenda based on these levers, sustained change is possible.

The challenge is also to find the right timeframe and resource mix to be able to scan and interpret the environment for disruptive change from other industries. Traditionally, industry groups have shaped legislation by engaging with government at all levels. Now communities must also be engaged to build social licenses to operate, whether environmental, community or single issues of concern.

With the concept of membership in decline, whether union, peak body or sporting club, peak bodies and associations need to find new ways of generating value and revenue. These positive operational levers are essential for relevance and longevity.

Examples of Results

Peak Body – Mining

We worked with the executive team to identify the game changing issues for the industry and to better structure themselves for delivery of value to members.  As well as maintaining a comprehensive service offer, the organisation continues to work with its members to influence favourable investment conditions in Australia, including identifying and driving initiatives to create a competitive labour supply pool. These two key success factors are inextricably tied to volatile commodity prices and a strategic balance needs to be sustained for the overall industry to be viable and competitive.

Peak Bodies – Medical

We have worked at both the state and federal level with some of Australias’ brightest minds to balance organisation passion and strong commitment to public health issues with the internal needs and continuing development of the profession.  Like many industries, the next generation of health professionals has very different expectations of how they train and what they expect in terms of culture and working conditions and the peak body needs a robust plan to remain relevant and attractive.

Industry body – Transport

With this executive team, we worked to identify strategies for overcoming critical skills shortages and embracing new commercial models for training, development and industry growth.  These strategies will form the basis of campaigns that highlight the technical sophistication and professionalism of the industry, and reasons for people to consider it as an exciting career choice.  This highly price-competitive industry has seen many small, family owned businesses disappear or morph into high tech, competitive international firms with complex systems and new capability sets.

Industry Body – Dairy

This agriculture-based industry continues to support its farmers to deal with highly competitive markets as many make the huge step from manual, family business to consolidated, high-tech, agricultural enterprises. We worked with a cross section of industry representatives to identify the critical data, information and support required to make robust decisions around feed and nutrition modeling, DNA and breeding technologies, animal and natural resource management, carbon footprint management, welfare issues for international export and balancing farm and animal lifecycle productivity.

Community Organisations and Issues

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Rapid Impact is privileged to work with community organisations that support the most vulnerable people in our community. The challenges are many and complex, from community awareness and acknowledgement to politically-charged funding and investment decisions. Even now, where it is more acceptable to talk about issues such as child abuse and family violence in the wider community, the amount of funding available to deal with the extraordinary number and rise of abuse victims falls well short of basic needs.

In a bid to support the complexity and diversity of their clients, these organisations have many programs and are pulled in many directions.  On a daily basis they deal with higher levels of risk where a breach of policy or an error in service delivery can have severe consequences. Not surprisingly, the compliance burdens are great yet the level and capability of resources is rarely sufficient.

Breaking the cycle requires cross-community initiatives and early intervention and so often, one service, no matter how diverse, is unable to bridge the gap. Leaders focused on progress towards sustainable change need to have heroic levels of determination and stamina as well as insight and intuition to find a strategic pathway through these issues.

Examples of Results

Vulnerable children

Every year this organisation assists over 27,000 of the most disadvantaged children, young people and families across our community.  They are ambitious, tenacious and relentless in their pursuit of improving the lives of the most vulnerable. There are ideas and plans a plenty for new and expanding services.  The challenge was to work with this inspiring team to capture the diversity of ideas, initiatives and plans, set priorities and integrate all into a single point of reference. We helped to create an implementation sequence that was logical, and most importantly, manageable.

Unlocking Sunraysia’s Potential

In this regional city, the whole community was deeply concerned about the future of its youth.  Strong community leaders assembled school principals, business owners, government departments, community and youth services to create a plan of action.  We worked with over a hundred people to create a shared plan identifying ways of keeping youth involved in the community, recognising early warning signs of at risk youth, as well as re-engaging those who have slipped under the radar. The community came together and made a commitment to act because it was clear no one group could solve the problem; housing, education, health, justice and employment all needed to be able to play their part in broader community-driven initiatives.

Regional amalgamation

A State Government restructure triggered the amalgamation of two service delivery regions. The Department chose to fund a series of half-day workshops, optimistic that the 13 existing providers across the two regions could negotiate and agree a new, integrated service delivery model. In conjunction with a subject matter expert, we created and supported a robust negotiation process that resulted in the organisations agreeing a new governance structure and operating principles.  Difficult decisions were made to shift resources within the partnership to better reflect demand, client vulnerability and system improvements. The success of this challenging negotiation within the agreed timeframe averted the need for the Department to engage in a time-consuming and costly tender process.

Royal Commission into Family Violence (Vic)

Many organisations and peak bodies are creating submissions to the Royal Commission in a bid to leverage opportunities for significant change to this high profile and highly disturbing community issue.  With little time available, we assisted Melbourne’s six largest service providers reach agreement on the common message and focused call to action to present to the Commission.

Health Services and Public Health Issues

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Public and private health providers are dealing with the relentless challenge of delivering services to an escalating number of patients, each with more complex requirements. There is a significant strategic and operational challenge because difficult choices need to be made on a daily basis about which services will be funded.

In addition to cost pressures, health services are grappling with new models of care that involve more complex arrangements such as wrap around services, coordinated care and integrated service delivery. While many of these concepts are not new, ramping up service volumes and changing models at the same time is difficult.  The introduction of competitive, specialist private providers, such as day surgery services, is successfully drawing away profitable tiers of clients from traditional providers.

Delivering services in new and different ways is challenging enough but there are also many whose organisation culture is trapped by the increasing burden and complexity of compliance. Finding ways to release and encourage people to think differently whether you are the funder or the service provider is a critical strategic capability.

Examples of Results

Private Hospital

We assisted this regional health service (part of a large national health provider) to produce a robust, evidenced-based strategy to effectively compete with other services within the group for infrastructure and service delivery investment.  While they were unable to prevent entry into the market of a new specialist provider, they introduced strategies early to mitigate their business risk.

Workforce Planning

Solving the critical shortage of health professionals to address known capacity gaps is complex.  Not only do tertiary funded places need to increase but new capacity also needs to be created within health services for student placements so practical knowledge and skills can be developed.  We supported robust debate amongst Government, health services and tertiary institutions to create new and alternative models to grow the capability of the system.  Included in the solution set was a shift in thinking for when and how simulated facilities could be better used to increase the quality of training delivered in a low risk environment.

Mental Health Pilot Initiative

The Victorian Government introduced legislative changes to the Mental Health Act, and to support these, funded a pilot program in seven health services (18 psychiatric units) to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint of patients. We partnered with a local forensic health expert to customise and translate the UK Safewards program into a format and approach suitable for the Victorian psychiatric setting.  This involved understanding the theory and practice of SafeWards, creating innovative delivery methods and establishing a learning network of professionals who had the confidence to embed and institutionalise the initiatives at each of their respective workplaces.

Government and University Collaboration

In collaboration with its fellowship partner, VicSport and Sport and Recreation Victoria, we reviewed the scope of one of the key research programs.  Avoiding scope creep is challenging when each of the parties has diverse and competing agendas in their respective organisations.  At the conclusion, all players agreed the ultimate deliverables and project milestones, outlined key elements of a detailed action plan and clarified items that were non-negotiable, discretionary and out of scope.  This challenging conversation reinforced the common ground amongst the players and positively changed their working relationship.

Medical Local

At the end of 2011, the Commonwealth abolished the Divisions of General Practice and created Medicare Locals. The interpretation and focus of the role of Medical Locals across Australia has been diverse. This Medical Local quickly established strong operational and governance arrangements. Their challenge was to focus on how to best add value to other local health services without adding another layer of bureaucracy or duplicating existing services.   We assisted to focus action plans and agree on five priorities.

Sport and Recreation

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Achieving world-class medal performance has become harder as international competition standards rise, training systems and intellectual property are quickly replicated, and investment strongly correlates with results.  In Australia, future government funds will be more closely tied to results, a clear factor in influencing the viability and sustainability of a number of sports.

The majority of Australian sports are structured around a federated model and an army of volunteers.  Some sports have stalled and experienced years of frustration as a result of the inability to get all stakeholders on board (clubs, states and national bodies).  Engaging and exciting the broader sports system is crucial to success.

For Australia’s sports franchises, whether one of the football code or netball franchises, the race is on.  The strategic challenge is for clubs to build the biggest and most engaged fan base, grow TV and new media share of market and wallet, and connect most effectively with local communities.

Examples of results

Sport Franchise

We identified how to best leverage the momentum and success of the clubs final’s performance, including how to extend the reach, presence and impact of social change within the local community.  We supported their adoption of a rigorous reporting culture so strategy is an active part of daily business activity and performance management.

Recently Merged Sport Franchise

We assisted the refreshed board and management team to create a bold strategy that honoured the past, yet marked a new era, where a single brand, collective identify and new strategy would be championed.

Australian National Sports Organisation

Rapid Impact has created consecutive strategies for Australia’s largest female sport since 2008.  Over this time, the sport has delivered aggressive growth on every indicator of success. The leadership team has demonstrated a willingness to be challenged, a commitment to new ways of thinking, and a consistent drive to deliver each successive strategy. Key achievements include over 100,000 kids involved in its nationally-driven participation program (from a zero base), a 300% increase in the number of coaches, a 35% increase in officials, the launch of the Trans-Tasman competition, and with this, a single nation-wide participation festival.

UK Sport’s Organisation

This UK Olympic sport was determined to capitalise on the London 2012 Olympic Games, especially while government investment was strong and the nation’s expectations and interest high.  We worked to create a proactive strategy that has delivered a measurable Olympic legacy.  Since then, results achieved include continuing high performance outcomes at benchmark events and thriving local community clubs.

Olympic performance

We assisted this high performance program achieve consensus amongst competing programs as to where effort should be directed to maximise results at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and preceding benchmark events.  We supported coaches and high performance staff to articulate the performance characteristics and behaviours of successful Olympic teams, irrespective of ethnicity and culture.

Institute of Sport

We assisted the board and leadership team to refocus the Institute and explore commercial opportunities to best use existing specialist knowledge and expertise.  A robust discussion was led around the delicate balance between focusing on producing high performing athletes and other strategies that increased profile, and focused on greater investment from current and non-traditional sources.

Sporting Injury Prevention Taskforce

In 2011, the Victorian Government established the Sports Injury Prevention Taskforce to identify and address the injury and safety related barriers that prevent people from leading a more active lifestyle.  The governing principle was “to have more Victorians active more often”. This major collaboration involved multiple government departments, local government authorities, universities, sports medicine groups, and sports.  Rapid Impact worked with the Taskforce to shape the 12-month project and ensure precise measurable outcomes were delivered at each stage. It was agreed, the only recommendations that would be accepted were those that could demonstrate clear public benefit, deliver improvements in both performance and participation, and were seen as systemic, socially inclusive and measurable. Within 12 months, Victoria’s five biggest sports embraced the outcomes and change is already visible.

Barriers to Welcome and Inclusive Sport

The Minister for Sport created a forum involving sports from across Victoria to jointly understand the barriers and solutions required to make sport welcoming and inclusive for all Victorians.  Rapid Impact facilitated this large forum, creating an environment that enabled the existing success stories to be shared, and a robust discussion to take place around where sport could show strong leadership and extend the range of people participating, particularly those in under represented sub-groups. System-wide opportunities for collaboration around non-competitive areas such as research, data collection and back of house systems were identified.

Make Strategies Stick With Positive Conversations About Capability and Confidence

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Many organisations struggle to move performance reporting beyond compliance. For success, it needs to become a lever for strategic change. We help you ensure that transparency about performance, captured in your reporting system, also translates into the conversations between managers and individuals.   We’ll help you acknowledge and reward your best performers and identify those who require more support. We’ll help you create more focus and less drama in everyone’s day, unlocking their capability and confidence for more productive and powerful work.

Keep Strategies Relevant With Readily Available Performance Data

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After decades of watching organisations deliver, like you, we know that accurate, timely performance reporting is crucial. Real-time reporting allows your leadership team to proactively manage performance across organisations, departments, teams and individuals.

If you like, using specialized software, we can set you up so it is easy to track your strategy and operations.  It’s our way of helping you to make the strategy active and relevant. You won’t need to collate, update or worry about document versions.  Your staff directly report against the strategy so it is absolutely clear what they do each day and which priorities they are working on.  With a click you can produce a report for a particular individual, a department, a strand of the strategy, or a summary for the Board.

Navigate The Hard Decisions Together

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We work alongside you to navigate new ways of operating. We will be there to start new conversations and help make decisions differently. We don’t do it to you; we don’t do it for you. We work with you and your team to stay focused and create the confidence that gets change implemented. We help you overcome the inertia of the current way of operating by making sure that all your early actions send the message of change to the organisation.

Make Ideas Happen With A Clear Roadmap

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From the outset, and every step along the way, we create a clear road map so that you can be focused on the next action. Our structured and disciplined discussions will make productive use of your time, and ensure that you have the ‘big picture’ clear. From there, you can clearly explain the rationale for changes and tough decisions. We give you a clear call to action for your teams. We make sure you know what to do differently on Monday.

Build Commitment By Engaging

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We know how important it is to nurture and bring people along on the journey so they are ready to do things differently.  We don’t seek consensus – we drive toward good decisions.  We understand new directions are only useful if they are within the capability of the organisation to implement. We find solutions that are solid in fact and in logic. We help people commit, even when required actions are unfamiliar or uncomfortable.

Generate Ideas By Challenging

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We promise to stretch your thinking about what’s possible and how to get there. We bring fresh eyes, objectivity and our experience of what works. We push your boundaries, whether you’re structuring for growth or solving community issues. We find new strategic options, always with an eye on practical implementation. We insist on working with good data to produce informed decisions. Discussions are always lively, robust and challenging. We create a safe space that gives people permission to speak their mind and think outside their comfort zone.